The History Press

Discover the history of an ancient road.   Traveling US 25 through the Carolinas today is a much more pleasant experience than it was in the 1700s. Then, the road from the Tennessee Cherokee Towns to Augusta, Georgia, was a Cherokee trading path that followed a bison trace to the navigable port on the Savannah River. Drovers came from as far as Kentucky herding hogs, turkeys and mules. Lowcountry South Carolinians traveled by stagecoach and wagon to the foothills and mountains, staying for months. The Augusta Road, Saluda Gap and Buncombe Turnpike became the Dixie Highway Carolina Division and then the US Route 25 by 1931. Author Anne Peden travels the trading path and concrete highway to explore this fascinating history.

Columbia, South Carolina, sits in a perfect position--each of the numerous treasures of the Palmetto State is less than a day's drive from the capital.

Near Charleston, 137 miles from Columbia, you can enjoy more than seventeen thousand square feet of shade from the iconic Angel Oak. In Blackville, 49 miles from Columbia, you can visit a natural spring that has been deeded to God since 1944. A 53-mile trip to Edgefield will put you in the heart of Peach Country, where you can see many of the peach orchards that make South Carolina one of the nation's leading producers of the sweet fruit. Join author and day-tripper Tom Poland as he maps the beautiful treasures of South Carolina.

Montgomery's cultural heritage reflects two of America's most transformative struggles: the Civil War and the civil rights movement. On February 18, 1861, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as president of the Confederate States of America on the Alabama Capitol steps. Those same steps marked the final destination of the Selma-Montgomery voting rights march on March 25, 1965. The telegram to fire on Fort Sumter originated from the Winter Building on Court Square on April 11, 1861. Just down the street, and a century later, Mrs. Rosa L. Parks refused to give up her seat, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Discover these compelling stories and more surrounding the historical landmarks along Montgomery's Civil Heritage Trail.

Join native Kentuckians Cameron M. Ludwick and Blair Thomas Hess as they explore all the unique features that make the Bluegrass State one of a kind.

While the middle of the United States tends to be dismissively referred to as "flyover states," one would have a much different impression if they drove. To fly over Kentucky would be to miss treasures like Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home that rests inside a Greek-style temple, or the Jefferson Davis monument rising from a field in Fairview like a lone, stone Redwood. From the rip-roaring barn dances in Rabbit Hash to the silent reverence of the monks at the Abbey of Gethsemani, the Commonwealth is rich with timeless landmarks and history.

Tourism in the Southeast is often associated with Florida--a state that essentially defined the industry in America. Yet Alabama has a fascinating history of tourism all its own. It all began with an enterprising politician. In 1916, John Hollis Bankhead went to great lengths to ensure that one of America's first transcontinental highways went directly through Alabama. Though it was a less efficient route for highway travelers, it marked the birth of Alabama's fledgling tourism industry, which grew exponentially with each passing decade. Since he was a boy, author Tim Hollis has traveled from the Shoals to the coast and amassed an unrivaled knowledge of Alabama tourism. From restored and preserved historic destinations to campy tourist traps and outrageous roadside attractions, this is the complete story of tourism in Alabama.

With this powerful, evocative new book, St. Petersburg residents Jon Wilson and Rosalie Peck present an informative narrative that explores the history of St. Petersburg, Florida's most vibrant African American neighborhood: 22nd Street South or "the deuces."

Throughout the city's history, no other area has personified strength for the African American community like this segregation-era thoroughfare. A haven during the brutal Jim Crow years, 22nd Street South was a place where prominent businessmen and community leaders were the role models and residents and neighbors looked out for one another. The close-knit community encouraged strong, positive values even as its members were treated as second-class citizens in the wider world. Authors Wilson and Peck tell the story of this unique district and how its people and events contributed to and helped to shape the history of St. Petersburg in the context of the greater South and the Civil Rights Movement.

More than eighty historic buildings and roadside landmarks across Georgia have found sanctuary in this stark but powerful collection of sketch work. From obscure treasures like a Cobb County covered bridge to the instantly recognizable Forsyth Park in Savannah, landscape architect Ronald Huffman puts pencil to pad to safeguard moments of state history. Each piece is accompanied by anecdotes and related backstories that preserve the context of these icons before progress irrevocably alters the landscape. Explore the back roads of Georgia with a guide attuned to the unexpected splendors that mark the way.

Named for the famous Spanish explorer who was said to have discovered the Fountain of Youth, Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Avenue began as a simple country road that conveyed visitors to the famous healing springs.

Now, few motorists realize that the avenue, one of Atlanta's major commuter thoroughfares, was a prestigious residential street in Victorian Atlanta, home to mayors and millionaires. An economic turn in the twentieth century transformed the avenue into a crime-ridden commercial corridor, but in recent years, Atlantans have rediscovered the street's venerable architecture and storied history. Join local historian Sharon Foster Jones on a vivid tour of the avenue - from picnics by the springs in hoopskirts and Atlanta Crackers baseball to the Fox Theatre and the days when Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable and Al Capone lodged in the esteemed hotels lining this magnificent avenue.

Honeybees have been a part of Virginia's history since they arrived with the first European colonists.

They were Jamestown's valuable addition, a Civil War soldier's sweet if painful temptation, and served as home front heroes when the world wars caused sugar shortages. In recent years mead has seen a resurgence along with beekeeping, and has claimed a place as a craft beverage in the Old Dominion.

Join author Virginia Johnson to hunt escaped swarms flying wild in the forests, visit modern-day observation hives and follow the mead path across the Commonwealth for a taste of history.

Route 58 stretches across all five hundred miles of Virginia, from the sandy shores of the Atlantic to the waterfalls and wild ponies of the Blue Ridge Highlands. Weird, quirky and intriguing legends and lore lie along this historic highway, including a UFO landing in South Hill, Virginia Beach's "witch duck" controversy of 1706 and Nat Turner's bloody insurrection in 1831. Country music icon Johnny Cash played his final shows at the world-famous Carter Fold. Civil War skirmishes touched towns. The "Wreck of the Old 97" happened in Danville, and haunting memories of a schoolhouse lost to a tornado remain in Rye Cove. Author Joe Tennis provides a guide to Route 58 with a trail of tales, accompanied by easy driving directions and vivid photography.